Birch/Aspen

[EG GREV NED MIN ELD]

What a joy to split. I had to continuously smell it to check that it wasn't white pine. Smells like birch, weighs like balsa, White like aspen.

 

[Sodbuster]

Looks very much like a piece of wood I asked about, the consensus was Poplar.

See pics:
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/carrion-tree-wood.164787/

 

[firefighterjake]

No doubt in my mind . . . poplar. White birch tends to have a more paper like bark. If you touch the bark of this split you may also find that it feels a bit waxy or even some white powder comes off. Scratch the bark with your fingernail and you may find a bit of green exposed right under the first layer. The bark and inner wood all say this is poplar.

 

[Chimney Smoke]

Agree with poplar. This is great wood in my opinion. It's usually very straight and easy to split, dries quickly and makes is great for short burns or to get the stove hot at startup.

 

[EG GREV NED MIN ELD]

Thanks for the replies. My dad said the same thing. Shoulda known he was right.
Odd how it smells just like birch, must be in the same family.

 

[peakbagger]

Not many folks waste their time in my area with poplar unless that is the only wood they have. I has very high moisture content when wet so it feels substantial. Once it drys out it doesnt weigh much so you need a lot of it to stay warm.

 

[firefighterjake]

Agree with poplar. This is great wood in my opinion. It's usually very straight and easy to split, dries quickly and makes is great for short burns or to get the stove hot at startup.

One of my least favorite woods to be honest . . . although it does process easily enough and dries quickly . . . for me it's OK for the shoulder seasons, but it's one of those wood species I do not go out of my way to cut or grab unless it's in the way or in a pile with a bunch of other free wood for the taking.

That said . . . growing up my father burned a lot of wood in his wood furnace. He loved the fact that no one else really liked this wood and treated it more like a weed.

 

[Chimney Smoke]

One of my least favorite woods to be honest . . . although it does process easily enough and dries quickly . . . for me it's OK for the shoulder seasons, but it's one of those wood species I do not go out of my way to cut or grab unless it's in the way or in a pile with a bunch of other free wood for the taking.

That said . . . growing up my father burned a lot of wood in his wood furnace. He loved the fact that no one else really liked this wood and treated it more like a weed.

I definitely don't go out of my way for it either. My land has a bunch of it though and I'd rather burn it than watch it rot on the ground.

 

[Jeff in Maine]

I have been thinning a stand of rock maple and the last job was to drop a few poplar. I had 2 I guess 14" plus on the stump and straight for 40'. I have never in my life burned any I have many, many cords on my land but these two went into a "crap tree length pile" I have a couple Pine a few Hemlock and a Basswood. They all were interfering with my sugar Maples so they had to go. Next spring I will go back and mark a few dozen more that should go but for now I will move to a different area. I have Apple trees to rescue and Elm to drop.

 

[BoiledOver]

The bark looks exactly like the Quaking Aspens I have recently felled, 8-10 cords it looks to be. Folks round here all refer to it as Poplar. Quaking Aspen is in the poplar family and has the official name of "Populus Tremuloides". See more here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Populus_tremuloides

Pretty easy to split but requires about 70% more in size to equal a good hardwood. So, instead of 10 cords of oak to heat the season, a person would need near to 17 cords of Poplar or aspen. If it is free as mine is, I will heat with it. More trips to the boiler but it is easier to buck, split and tote around.

 

[nrford]

100% Aspen

 

[BoiledOver]

100% Aspen

True or false? Aspen, poplar and balsa are members of the hardwood family.

 

[nrford]

Aspen/popple, Poplar are. Balsa wood is an exotic and not native to US, but I believe it is considered a hardwood. If you were referring to Balsam, that is an evergreen and considered a softwood.

 

[BoiledOver]

True or false, deer love to eat balsam? Planted several dozen balsam fir without repellent and lost 100%.

 

[jwfirebird]

deer will eat any soft wood if they don't have anything else.
ive got apple trees in the yard, stopped trying to spray them or anything. waste of money. kind of like watching all the deer in the yard from that and few other things now